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Viewing is personal preference. I never minded going to RH a couple of times a year when the weather was nice and ejoyed the close up viewing but I wouldnt want it every week and for regular viewing I much preferred Arena, where I could always see the whole track from the main stand or entry to bend 1. As for racing, what you said is simply not true.Rye House is a converted stock car track. It is also a small track that rides like a big track, I.e.full throttle and if a half decent rider makes the gate and keeps the throttle open he won't be caught, especially as the straights are relatively narrow. . As for Lakeside being too flat, you only have to stand on the stock car track at the apex of the Speedwáy bends and you will see the Speedwáy bends are banked to around knee knee height. The racing at Lakeside was improved when the shape was changed to give more width going into the bends. Neil Middleditch described Arena as a thinking mans track, in other words a rider has to be thinking two steps ahead of where he is on the track all the time. Kelvin Tatum said that because it is mentally demanding a lot of riders are beaten in their minds before the race even starts. I think referee Chris Gay summed Arena up pretty well, he said Arena was not the best track he officiated at but it is in the top half. Unfortunately you, like several others on here want to impose your opinions as being absolute right or wrong, but there are plenty of long term Lakeside fans who take the opposite view. To see a rider like Peter Karlsson going from last to first with one of his famous cut backs, or riders like Ed Kennett or Lewis Bridger scraping the air fence and firing themselves off the banking at Arena is as good as you'll see anywhere. The great thing about Britsh Speedwáy is that all tracks are different and the style of racing is different. The problem is that some fans are too closed-minded to acknowledge that.

A very positive initiative THJ which requires the wider fan base epecially the 'hardcore' supporters to embrace in order that we can continue to have the sport we love. It's not that many months ago that Whitehaven Rugby league apealled for help from the wider community to help raise something like £60K. I was recently informed on good authority that the club are now debt free. If this was possible for them then why not the Comets ?. So come on everyone lets all look very seriously at what we can do to help secure the future of the club. Up the Comets !!

Hi to all Workington Fans. Here is the rub, running in 2019 will be very difficult and honestly it still is in doubt as to whether we will be coming to the tapes next year, however I am proposing something different and developing a business plan (with others) to save the club and to ensure it runs at least for the next three years whilst Derwent Park is still available, what happens after this period we can worry about then. What I am looking for is some commitment from fans; local businesses or anyone who has contact details of anyone who can offer support who I can talk to, the proposal is to form a new partnership (LLP) to run the club. For obvious reasons I can not go into much detail on here however, I do have the bit between my teeth; but I can not do this all on my own. I am working with the promotion to formulate a plan to take the club forward and continue with the sport in Workington. The Club "end of season bash" is at the Workington Railway Club this Friday and I will be open for any discussions then where the plan can be discussed or if anyone would like to PM me I can provide details. The Speedway Trust who have provided invaluable support over the last two seasons and will be heavily involved along with all of the fan base. It is an open secret that the club isn't financially viable and has had cash flow problems, hopefully my proposal will go a long way to correcting this. As the BSPA General Meeting is coming up fast this proposal is time limited unfortunately as certain assurances and guarantees have to be met at the BSPA AGM. So come on Workington how much do you want Speedway, its your call. Once its gone I very much doubt you will ever get it back Regards THJ

Luke is hardly starting out is he........he has plied his trade in the States, which is the reason most British tracks would welcome him!! I'll let you into a little secret..........tight technical tracks are pretty common in California, so your valued advice seems to have been heeded. Having witnessed Luke on his home tracks, my opinion is the best choice of track for him in Britain (should he choose to ride here, which is far from forgone) would be Sheffield!!!

Wow. I expected far more reaction to the news about Stuart Douglas. Just goes to show how jaded the fans of the club are, I suppose, and who can blame them? Whilst I think that is the final nail in the coffin, he is right that a Lakeside out of Essex isn't Lakeside at all. I've always had a lot of time for Stuart Douglas. I think when someone stays in the background so much it's easy to forget the input they have in keeping the club going. That he is still talking about pouring heart, soul, and money into getting a new track in Essex after all the trials and tribulations over the years, that his heart is still set on not only chasing, but catching that dream, shows the total dedication and commitment of the man. The class and humility in his statement speak volumes. There aren't enough good words I can say about him, but "gentleman" is one that will suffice for now. Thank you for everything you did for Arena, Stuart.

When the head of the BSPA says there is nothing wrong with the product you know the sport is stuffed.

Quite ..you would think that Phil would have had better things to do than pick up on a minor choice of words .

It's Robert Lambert

Wishing you the very best with your efforts, the town deserves for the Sport to continue especially after the successes of this season, it would be a crying shame for the Sport to be lost in Mara land.. when its gone its gone..

Can I ask why you have a picture of Roy Clarke as your avatar?

Stuart used to post on here when he was just a sponsor before he took over the club, so if he does still look on here I want to tell him thank you for giving me a team to support for all these years and thanks for the memories.

Go Workington!!

My thoughts on 2018 have not changed from the previous years. The NL to break away from the BSPA and register themselves with the SCB independently . Then a straight 42 point limit every season. Still British passport holders only. No doubling up, if a rider wants to ride in a different league having signed for a NL team then he leaves the NL and cannot come back for 2 seasons and gets an enhanced average subsequently. Handicap system so 'weaker brethren' one season gets 43/44 limit the next season. Not too bothered about Guests and r/r within reason. There have been some terrific NL races this season and with a 42 point limit the best can be retained with no real 'wobblers' Sell a highlights package to a TV company showing all the races and cutting out all the between inter heats delay and rubbish spouted by presenters like Pearson. This could be screened the following evening. After a few years the NL would become Britains foremost league if they do it right and some of the other clubs will be anxious to join. Drastic maybe but that is just what we need. I have no doubt it wont happen but I can dream.

As a Plymouth supporter I would disagree with your choice there, we had as many injuries as Birmingham but being as far west as we are and riding on a Friday it seemed difficult to get replacements. We were still in with a shot until the last few meetings :-)

Its a bit unfair to single out individuals when there are so many interesting and knowledgeable contributors to this section of the forum . Yes there are also a few numpties who's sole purpose is to wind folk up and also one or two of the nasty variety . But thankfully they are in the minority and the rest of us love the sport and i enjoy the quiet moments reading the various threads . I remember the days when i went to the speedway ; went home and didnt have anyone to talk to about it until the following week , so this forum has been a godsend in that respect . Long may it continue to flourish .

baa humbug , didnt even get a look in .

I agree about the fixture list should be completed but if the fixture list was not compiled properly or fixtures changed then changed back again then one can hardly blame the clubs involved. also this was about the third attempt to run the fixture!

i predict Kings Lynn will top the team vote but Poole will win on a technicality

Obviously you have not checked the rules for the Championship in 2018 & previous years. THERE ARE PLAY OFFS & everyone knows the rules before the start so no one was robbed.

Every man and his dog knows heroin is addictive. To take that first shot is your choice. You make that choice to be an heroin addict. Nobody who takes that $#!+ deserves sympathy, especially ripping your own parent off for £40k plus. I don't consider my life as boring and I done drink, smoke, do drugs or gamble. Even with all the health issues I'm currently dealing with, unable to work for 2 years so far, I will not go down that route of taking up things that become addictive. I don't expect people to feel sorry for me so I have no time for someone who's an addict. All addicts are scumbags and have no thought for others.

You sound nice.

Agreed, do not give a toss about the stands or back straight bog or the bloody awful food for sale.

The bike he had there on Monday was a dummy bike that was knitted out with his bike covers. His season has finished and while money isn't everything why should he ride in a meeting for a few hundred quid when he was there to meet the fans after making history as the first three time World Champion from Britain. Riding was was never in consideration and let's face it, it's not exactly a line up to test him or even riders like Fricke, Lambert, Iversen and Doyle who have full bike set ups here but it's not questioned why they were not riding. Yes merchandise sales were part of it but to knock him for turning up and putting a smile on many faces that night is surprising anyone would even question it. At least he did his bit by doubling the gate and never had a holiday booked

We just need to adopt the Polish system with the two minute clock. The 2 minutes is activated and the riders have to be ready to start the race before it gets to zero.

No... But it's nice to dream and it gives some posters an opportunity to write massive long "blueprints for the future" posts to waste everybody's time